Samsung says its upcoming foldable phone won't be a gimmick product

by Maggie Tillman ·
Published 12, October 2018
· Updated 12, October 2018

Samsung’s mobile head, DJ Koh, has talked a lot about the company’s upcoming foldable phone, and now, he’s promising potential buyers it won’t be a “gimmick product” that disappears “after six to nine months after it’s delivered”. In an interview with CNET, the executive revealed that the device, when unfolded, will work much like a tablet, offering up a large screen and multi-tasking capabilities. However, when folded, it’ll double as a portable phone.

Such a device has been rumoured for several years, and even Samsung itself released a trailer in 2013 that features a product much like the one it’s now teasing. Koh has indicated before that the device – which has yet to be named or seen in person – could debut at Samsung’s developer conference on 7 November, though only if it is ready. “When we deliver a foldable phone, it has to be really meaningful to our customer,” he explained to CNET. “If the user experience is not up to my standard, I don’t want to deliver those kind of products.” If it does appear at the developer conference, we suspect it’ll still be a prototype.

Think about Microsoft HoloLens or Google Glass, two devices that launched for developers but never really came to market.

If we had to guess, Samsung is likely eager to demonstrate its foldable phone because its competition, including Huawei, plans to release their own foldable handsets by next year.